In 1939 Stalin amazed the world by doing a
deal with his deadly enemy, Hitler. Within a few days of the signing of the
Nazi-Soviet Pact the Second World War broke out.

Why did Stalin agree to the Nazi-Soviet Pact?

Communist beliefs

As a communist Stalin believed that there was
little difference between the fascist dictatorships and the Western
democracies. Germany, Italy, Britain and France were all, to him, capitalist
states and potential enemies of the Soviet Union. The most important task for
him was to ensure that they did not unite to fight against the USSR. He was
perfectly happy to do a deal with either.

Communist writers taught that capitalist
powers were naturally aggressive. Countries attacked each other to get more
markets or raw materials. Stalin believed this and expected that sooner or
later there would be another war like the First World War. His concern was that
capitalist countries did not gang up together against the Soviet Union. He
tried to make sure that the USSR was on the winning side in any war among
capitalist countries.

Reacting to Hitler

The rise of Hitler posed a problem for Stalin.
As early as January 1934 Stalin made it clear that he was prepared to do
business with Hitler. In that month he made a speech stating that the USSR
could work with any country that did not threaten it. At this stage Hitler had
no interest in good relations with Stalin and this early attempt by Stalin to
do a deal with Nazi Germany was not successful.

Support for the League and collective security

Having failed to establish a relationship with
Hitler, Stalin turned instead to the Western powers. In September 1934 the
Soviet Union suddenly joined the League of Nations. Before that, the Soviet
government had referred to the League as 'a gang of robbers'. In 1935 communist
parties across the world were ordered to stop trying to organize revolution.
Instead they co-operated with any anti-fascist forces.

The Soviet Foreign Minister was Maxim
Litvinov. Between 1934 and 1938 he tried to build links with Britain and
France, in order to counter the threat from Germany. He was a great believer in
the idea of collective security: by standing together, the countries of Europe
could stop German aggression.

Appeasement and the Soviets

The policy of appeasement disappointed
Litvinov and Stalin and forced them to think again about the value of a link
with Britain and France. With regards to the Rhineland, Austria and at Munich
the Western Allies seemed too ready to ignore Hitler or do a deal with him.
Stalin had never really trusted the British and the French. He suspected that
their secret aim was to encourage a war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet
Union in the hope that the two sides would destroy each other.